Thursday January 26, 2017

This might totally be a bug, but BetaNews is telling me that you cannot get rid of stock apps unless you go through PowerShell with the latest build (15014). I was already a bit miffed that you couldn’t (quickly) uninstall certain apps, but it would really suck if you couldn’t delete any of the stock apps at all without going through additional steps. I have not used a single app aside from Calculator and Weather.

Microsoft introduced the ability to remove unwanted stock apps in build 14936 for Windows Insiders, but now it’s taken back that option. While you’ve been able to uninstall certain Windows 10 apps since launch, as of October, Insiders have been able to delete apps such as Calculator, Groove Music, Mail and calendar, Movies & TV, OneNote, and Xbox, but that’s no longer the case. If you’ve updated to the latest Insider Build (currently Build 15014) you’ll find the Uninstall option for those stock apps, and others, is now grayed out (although they can still be uninstalled via Powershell if you really want rid). Interestingly, Groove Music also doesn’t appear anywhere in the list of apps you can remove -- even though it is still included in the OS. It’s possible that it’s just a bug preventing those apps from being uninstalled, and a future build will reinstate the option.